The Milwaukee judge accused of helping an undocumented immigrant avoid federal agents was indicted Tuesday on federal charges of concealing a person from arrest and obstruction of proceedings.
The indictment came after the judge, Hannah C. Dugan, was arrested on April 25. A week before, according to the criminal complaint against her, Judge Dugan had directed a Mexican man facing battery charges out of her courtroom through a side door while federal immigration agents waited in a hallway to arrest him.
The indictment was a routine but significant step in the case against Judge Dugan.
Her arrest drew condemnation from Democratic leaders, lawyers and former judges, while the Trump administration has presented the prosecution as a warning that no one is above the law.
The U.S. attorney general, Pam Bondi, defended the move, saying Judge Dugan’s arrest sent a “strong message” to judges that the Trump administration will prosecute them if they obstruct justice by “escorting a criminal defendant out a back door.”
On April 29, the Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended Judge Dugan from her position as a circuit judge while the case against her moves forward. In a two-page order, the court wrote that the suspension was necessary “in order to uphold the public’s confidence in the courts of this state.”
Several questions about Judge Dugan’s case remain unanswered. Here’s what we know so far.
What happened on the day of Judge Dugan’s arrest?
On April 18, six federal officers arrived at the Milwaukee County Courthouse to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national who was there for a hearing on battery charges.
Before the hearing, a lawyer told Judge Dugan that agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement were outside her courtroom, according to the complaint. She called the situation “absurd” and left the bench.
Judge Dugan then spoke with the federal agents, telling them that they needed a judicial warrant and to speak with the chief judge of Milwaukee County.
One of the officers talked to the chief judge, Carl Ashley, who told the officer that arrests by ICE agents “should not take place in courtrooms or other private locations,” but indicated that an arrest could be made in a hallway, the complaint said.
As Mr. Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer left the courtroom, Judge Dugan told them, “Wait, come with me,” according to a courtroom deputy who witnessed the interaction. The deputy saw her usher them through a door that leads to a “nonpublic” area of the courthouse, court records show.
Agents then saw Mr. Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer in a public hallway, and one agent entered an elevator with them and watched them leave the building, but did not immediately make the arrest, the complaint said. Other agents then arrested him on the street after a foot chase.
F.B.I. agents arrested Judge Dugan a week later. Craig Mastantuono, who represented the judge during her brief court appearance on April 25, called her arrest “highly unusual.”
Who is Judge Dugan?
Judge Dugan, 66, spent much of her career providing legal services for poor people, specializing in housing and public benefits.
In 1995, she represented people who panhandled on downtown sidewalks, arguing that barring them from doing so was unconstitutional. She was elected judge in 2016 and ran unopposed for re-election in 2022. Her current term ends in 2028.
Ann Jacobs, a Milwaukee lawyer who has appeared before the judge in court, described Judge Dugan as a “very by-the-book sort of judge.”
After her court appearance on April 25, Judge Dugan was released on her own recognizance. Her legal team, which includes Steven M. Biskupic, a former U.S. attorney who was appointed by President George W. Bush, vowed to contest the charges. She is expected to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Thursday.
Who is Mr. Flores-Ruiz, and what happened in his case?
Mr. Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national in his early 30s, was at the courthouse on April 18 for a hearing on three misdemeanor battery charges stemming from an episode in March, according to a criminal complaint against him.
Records show that Mr. Flores-Ruiz had a fight with his roommate, who had asked him to turn down the music he was playing. The roommate said Mr. Flores-Ruiz struck him about 30 times and also hit the roommate’s girlfriend and her cousin.
But federal officials were looking to arrest Mr. Flores-Ruiz for another reason: He also faces a federal illegal re-entry charge.
Mr. Flores-Ruiz was deported from the United States in January 2013 under an order of expedited removal, which is generally issued to those who cross the border without proper documentation and are quickly detained. Martin Pruhs, his lawyer on the federal charge, said in an interview that Mr. Flores-Ruiz returned to the country soon after he was deported and had been living in Milwaukee and working as a cook for about 12 years.
Mr. Pruhs said he had no criminal record before the misdemeanor charges. Mr. Flores-Ruiz has pleaded not guilty to the illegal re-entry charge, and his battery charges are still pending. He is currently being held in the Ozaukee County jail in Port Washington, Wis.
Six federal officers from four agencies — the F.B.I., ICE, Customs and Border Protection and the Drug Enforcement Administration — were involved in his arrest. The complaint against Judge Dugan said the agents were in street clothes and planned to arrest Mr. Flores-Ruiz in a “low-key” and safe manner. It also explained that it was common for law enforcement officials to arrest people at a courthouse because they know the person they are seeking would be unarmed.
The number of agents who were present has raised questions, with some people wondering if there were too many to arrest one migrant. But others have said the number may not be highly unusual, especially if the agents were planning on making multiple arrests that day. Some also questioned why agents didn’t make the arrest when they appeared to have opportunities to do so before chasing him on the street.
What could these cases mean for the legal and immigration landscapes?
Judge Dugan’s indictment and Mr. Flores-Ruiz’s arrest have experts wondering how other immigration cases and the court system at large could be affected.
Since federal agents sought to arrest Mr. Flores-Ruiz at a courthouse, Ms. Jacobs, the Milwaukee lawyer, is concerned that undocumented people will be afraid to participate in future cases where their testimonies would be helpful.
Ms. Jacobs, who is also the chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said Judge Dugan’s arrest was so “profound and unheard-of” that it was difficult to foresee how it might affect other judges’ behavior. She added that it appeared designed to make judges afraid to take any position out of step with the Trump administration.
Earlier this month, more than 150 former state and federal judges signed a letter to Ms. Bondi criticizing Judge Dugan’s arrest as an attempt to intimidate the judiciary. They wrote that the administration could have issued a summons, “as they would have done in other white collar cases,” instead of arresting her.
“This cynical effort undermines the rule of law and destroys the trust the American people have in the nation’s judges to administer justice,” they wrote.
Devlin Barrett, Julie Bosman, Mitch Smith and Robert Chiarito contributed reporting.
Isabelle Taft is a reporter covering national news and a member of the 2024-25 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their career.
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